How Harris, Trump Are Angling For Votes

This episode of the NPR Politics Podcast discusses the contrasting approaches and messages of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris as they campaign for the U.S. presidency.

1. Donald Trump focused on a nostalgic message about a stronger past economy and used fear-based rhetoric about current national issues.
2. Kamala Harris aimed to present a hopeful vision, linking her personal story with broader American themes and reaching out to centrist voters.
3. Both candidates used their convention speeches to solidify their bases and attempt to expand their appeal.
4. The podcast noted significant differences in their speech lengths and content, which reflects their distinct strategies to engage voters.
5. The episode highlighted the importance of patriotism in both parties' narratives, with each trying to claim the mantle in their own way.

1: Introduction and Context

Deepa Shiverom sets the stage for the analysis of Trump's and Harris's campaign strategies, discussing the close race and the timing of the convention speeches. Notable quote: Deepa Shiverom: "There are only 70 days until election day."

2: Trump's Convention Speech

Franco Ordonez and Mara Liasson critique Trump's speech, noting its nostalgic tone and fear-based rhetoric. Notable quote: Donald Trump: "We will launch a new era of safety, prosperity, and freedom for citizens of every race, religion, color, and creed."

3: Harris's Convention Speech

The hosts discuss Harris's speech, emphasizing her optimistic outlook and broad appeal. Notable quote: Kamala Harris: "On behalf of everyone whose story could only be written in the greatest nation on earth, I accept your nomination to be president of the United States."

4: Analysis of Campaign Strategies

The podcast examines how each candidate's approach might sway undecided voters and the potential impact of their strategies on the election outcome. Notable quote: Mara Liasson: "Kamala Harris worked really hard to appeal to voters who aren't part of the democratic base."

• Engage in local political events to better understand the platforms of each candidate.
• Research the candidates' past actions and policies to predict their future governance style.
• Fact-check campaign speeches and advertisements to make informed voting decisions.
• Discuss political views and implications of election outcomes with peers to broaden understanding.
• Participate in or organize community forums to discuss the impacts of potential presidential policies.

Each talks about patriotism. Each talks about their strengths as leaders. But, the visions of America Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are trying to bring to the country couldn't be more different. We look at how each is trying to win over undecided voters.

This episode: White House correspondents Deepa Shivaram & Franco Ordoñez, and senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson,

The podcast is produced by Casey Morell and Kelli Wessinger. Our editor is Eric McDaniel. Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi.

People

Donald Trump, Kamala Harris

Content Warnings:

None

Robert Smith
This summer on planet money, we're bringing you the entire history of the world, at least the economics part. It's Planet money. Summer school. Every week, we'll invite in a brilliant professor and play classic episodes about the birth of money, banks, and finance. There will be rogues and revolutionaries and a lot of panics. Summer school every Wednesday till Labor Day on the Planet Money podcast from NPR.

Alyssa
Hi, this is Alyssa in St. Louis, Missouri.

I'm waiting for park rangers to come open the gates so I can start my, my six mile long run in my half marathon training plan. This podcast was recorded at 01:08 p.m.

Deepa Shiverom
On Tuesday, August 27, 2024.

Alyssa
Things may have changed by the time you hear it, but I'll still be enjoying watching the sunrise while collecting my miles. Okay, enjoy the show.

Deepa Shiverom
Why are there so many runners who listen to this podcast?

Franco Ordonez
I am jealous. I am jealous.

Mara Liasson
Very cool. It's a lot of hard work to do that.

Deepa Shiverom
I hope that she listens to this episode during training. Hey, there. It's the NPR politics podcast. I'm Deepa Shiverom. I cover the White House.

Franco Ordonez
I'm Franco Ordonez. I cover the campaign.

Mara Liasson
And I'm Mara Liasson, senior national political correspondent.

Deepa Shiverom
Okay, so today on the show, the theories of the case for Donald Trump's and Kamala Harris's candidacies and how they're campaigning for the presidency. In yesterday's episode, we talked about the presidential race being essentially tied, and there are only 70 days into election day. But in the meantime, some voters will start getting their early voting ballots in as little as ten days. And Trump and Harris accepted their party's nominations at their respective conventions, and each addressed the nation. While doing so, we're going to talk a little bit about what their messages were. So, Franco, we'll start with some of what former President Trump had to say in Milwaukee.

Donald Trump
Together, we will launch a new era of safety, prosperity, and freedom for citizens of every race, religion, color, and creed.

That the score and division in our society must be healed. We must heal it quickly.

As Americans, we are bound together by a single fate and a shared destiny.

We rise together or we fall apart.

I am running to be president for all of America, not half of America, because there is no victory in winning for half of America.

So tonight, with faith and devotion, I proudly accept your nomination for president of the United States.

Thank you.

Deepa Shiverom
And we should, of course, point out that, you know, Donald Trump was giving his speech at the RNC while Joe Biden was still the candidate running for president.

You know, we might have seen different rhetoric. If it had been Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket. Franco, what was the central message of Trump's speech?

Franco Ordonez
I mean, Trump's central message is about looking back to a time when the us economy appeared or was perceived to be stronger, that rural America had more jobs, that manufacturing was more prevalent, but also kind of, as you heard in that clip there, it was also about kind of framing this race between strength and weakness. It was also a message of fear.

You know, he went on in that speech to talk about, or at least to paint a very dystopian picture of american society where, you know, costs have gotten out of control, illegal immigration is plaguing the country, and that America is on the cusp of World War III, and that he is the only one who alone can address the issues of the day.

Deepa Shiverom
All right, let's listen to what his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, said in Chicago last week.

Kamala Harris
And so on behalf of the people, on behalf of every american, regardless of party, race, gender, or the language your grandmother speaks, thanks on behalf of my mother and everyone who has ever set out on their own unlikely journey, on behalf of Americans like the people I grew up with, people who work hard, chase their dreams, and look out for one another, on behalf of everyone whose story could only be written in the greatest nation on earth, I accept your nomination to be president of the United States.

Deepa Shiverom
Very different tones, messages, words. There you take away from Kamala Harris speech.

Franco Ordonez
Yeah. I mean, I think for Harris, it was much more about, you know, charting a new way forward, about connecting her story to the greater american, telling a much more universal story about herself and how it connected with everyone else. It was also about presenting a more optimistic vision for the future. You know, she made kind of a subtle changes from Biden's messages. I mean, Biden would cast Trump as kind of like this existential threat to democracy. She definitely warned against Trump coming back, but it was, it was also in a frame, a much more positive, a much more sunny side, optimistic framing of, you know, the few and looking ahead.

And also, I mean, she picked Governor Tim Walsh as her running mate, whose sunny disposition, I mean, he's, you know, his entire Persona is pretty jolly, to be frank.

Deepa Shiverom
Yeah. And Mara, I mean, both candidates here, like we've been saying different vibes, right, for lack of a better word, but they use the word fight. They talk about being fighters, but the difference is still pretty stark, right? The subtext to all of that is not exactly the same.

Mara Liasson
Contrast is stark. Two extremely different theories of the case here. Kamala Harris, in her speech, showed that she believes she cannot win with the democratic base alone. She was reaching out to the center again and again. She didn't focus on her racial or gender identity. She talked about herself as being the child of immigrants, which is something that millions and millions of Americans can relate to. She also gave a 38 minutes speech, as opposed to Trump's 92 minutes speech. She seemed to understand that undecided people might not listen to more than 38 minutes, and you better give them a reason to vote for you before they start going to the fridge for a snack. Donald Trump, on the other hand, seemed to think that all he has to do is give a typical rally speech. There were some scripted moments for him at the beginning and the end. You just heard one of them. He didn't seem to have a lot of energy in there. But once he was back to ad libbing and riffing, he was back to his usual stream of consciousness rally speech, which lasted 92 minutes, because that's what people who come to his rallies love. He doesn't seem to think that he needs to expand his reach beyond the MAGA base to win. And we'll see whose theory of the case is correct.

Franco Ordonez
Let's also just remember for Trump, you know, his speech was just a few days after the attempted assassination on his life, which became a central theme. And he said, fight, fight, fight. All of his, so many of the speakers on stage spokes said that same theme. It was really part of, of his message and the Republicans message throughout the week.

Deepa Shiverom
Another theme I think I wanted to get at with both of you. Patriotism was a big part of both the RNC and the DNC, talking about, you know, love of country, dedication to America, american flags being a symbol that were everywhere. It was pretty expected, I think, at the RNC, but it sort of came across in this very, very big way for Democrats that we maybe haven't really seen candidates in the Democratic Party lean into as much in recent years. Let's play a piece of tape from Trump's speech kind of speaking to this.

Donald Trump
Under our leadership, the United States will be respected again.

No nation will question our power. No enemy will doubt our might.

Our borders will be totally secure. Our economy will soar.

We will return law and order to our streets, patriotism to our schools, and importantly, we will restore peace, stability, and harmony all throughout the world.

Franco Ordonez
I mean, Trump's entire so called MAGA movement is intertwined with patriotism.

He's infamous for kissing the flag before during speeches, at consequential moments. He calls, for example, the January 6 rioters who stormed the Capitol patriots.

I mean, it is a huge, huge part of Trump's Persona. But at the DNC, Adam Kinzinger, the former republican congressman from Illinois, you know, turned to kind of republican viewers and said, hey, Democrats are as patriotic as many Republicans. It was kind of a fascinating moment.

Mara Liasson
Mara, what do you think in 2016?

I remember sitting in the skybox and talking about how many flags Hillary Clinton had brought out. This isn't new on the part of Democrats, but there's no doubt that historically Republicans have been the one that kind of owned the patriotism mantle, but it's not new for Democrats. They've been trying to get this back for years. And Kamala Harris worked really, really hard to do it. I mean, she's facing a big hurdle. She has to get people outside the hall, independent voters, swing voters, to imagine her as the commander in chief. We've never had a female commander in chief, but when she talked about what she was going to do, she did it in the toughest possible language.

Kamala Harris
As commander in chief, I will ensure America always has the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world, and I will fulfill our sacred obligation to care for our troops and their families, and I will always honor and never disparage their service and their sacrifice.

Mara Liasson
Lethal fighting force in the world. Lethal is really key there. She's saying, I'm willing to be a killer, which is what lethal means on behalf of my country. And she also went on to talk about being an American is the greatest privilege on earth, the privilege and pride of being an American.

She really stressed that. I don't know if it's going to work, but this is something that was part of her effort to appeal to voters who aren't part of the democratic base of.

Deepa Shiverom
Right. All right, we're going to take a quick break, and we'll be back in a moment.

Unknown
They're all over the Internet and bumping out of people's cars. They're the songs of the summer, and this year includes the domination of Charlie XCX and Brat Summer.

Deepa Shiverom
She's really tapping into this moment where.

Unknown
We are all chronically online but also chronically outside.

Unknown
We are talking about the songs of the summer and why they're so catchy and inescapable. Listen to the pop culture Happy Hour podcast from NPrdem.

Robert Smith
Hey, I'm Robert Smith from Planet money. And this summer, we are bringing you the entire history of the world, at least the economics part. It's Planet Money summer school. Every week. We'll invite in a brilliant professor and play classic episodes about the birth of money, banks and finance. There will be rogues and revolutionaries and a lot of panics. Summer school every Wednesday till Labor Day on the Planet Money podcast from NPrdem.

Unknown
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Mara Liasson
Truth independence fairness transparency respect, excellence is NPR.

Deepa Shiverom
And we're back. And a quick reminder, hit the follow button in your preferred podcast app to get notified whenever we have new episodes out. That way you don't miss a beat. We're going to pick up where we left off, talking about this commander in chief narrative from Kamala Harris, really trying to show her leadership on a world stage and try to bring in voters from across the aisle, not just the democratic.

Mara, I want to go back to that point because part of that messaging was also somewhat a way of downplaying, you know, other parts of her identity like you were talking about earlier.

Mara Liasson
Right. She isn't running on being the first woman or the first african american south asian woman as president. If anything, her identity is as a child of immigrants. And I think that's really important. People are not going to vote for you because you're the first anything. They're going to vote for you because you're going to make their lives better. And that's what she understands in a way that I think Hillary Clinton didn't. And it's also a huge contrast with Trump, who never talks about his upbringing or his family.

She paints this picture of how she was raised by a community. She talked about how her mother lived in an apartment with her and her sister above a daycare center. She said she lived in a beautiful working class neighborhood of firefighters, nurses and construction workers, all who tended their lawns with pride. And they all loved her as a family. And that's something that's real old fashioned democratic rhetoric. We're all in this together and we help each other.

Deepa Shiverom
Yeah. Franco, I want to turn to a different element here. I mean, Republicans and Democrats are always going to have different contrasting visions on how to govern. None of that is breaking news here. But the presentation of those visions, of course, very different. What I want to get at, though, is, I mean, how does a campaign get these undecided voters to buy into what they're selling in a very short timeline, like we've been pointing out.

Franco Ordonez
Yeah, I mean, I think you're right. I mean, neither of these candidates, even Doug, deep into policy at all during their convention speeches. And I think both campaigns recognize that policy doesn't necessarily move voters during campaigns. Certainly Trump feels that way when he's, you know, the marketing tv guy. He talks about, you know, these kind of platforms as boring white papers. No one wants to know that they want more of the bullet points. They want to know what, how things are going to change. And I think Harris, you know, kind of feels similar at least, or at least presented herself similarly in this case. I mean, she has really not gone into many specifics either in the speech or before. I mean, she did obviously enter an economic plan. She talked about controls on food prices. She's talked about dealing with the housing shortage, an opportunity economy. And, I mean, when it comes to Trump, I mean, sometimes, you know, you kind of question whether he is trying to tack to the center. You know, you have his running mate, JD vans, coming on tv saying that he would veto a national abortion ban. That is obviously one of the biggest vulnerabilities that Trump and the Republicans have for reaching the middle. So there are those efforts to go to the center, but they are, I would argue, far and few between considering the amount of personal attacks and red meat and focus that Trump has had on Harris ethnicity, gender in all the personal attacks that we've heard over and over and over again, I would say.

Mara Liasson
Trump is nothing, making much of an effort to convince people who are on the fence. But he is repeating his greatest hits, which is that under his leadership, everything will be fixed. He said we will restore peace, stability and harmony all throughout the world, and he'll fix inflation, he'll fix illegal immigration. He doesn't tell you exactly how he's going to do it other than to deport millions of people. But this has been a theme from him all along. And I guess he assumes it'll work with undecided voters as well as his base, which is that I alone can fix it. And things were great when I was president. They've been absolutely horrible now. But we're going to make America great again.

Deepa Shiverom
Ok, before we wrap, I want to ask one more question. In the short time that there is left before Election Day, do both of you anticipate, you know, these candidates, the RNC, Trump and the DNC, Harris being these campaigns and these candidates in their final form, or do you think there's still some wiggle room.

Franco Ordonez
I mean, I think when it comes to Trump, we're absolutely seeing big wiggle room and maybe some more dramatic moves in the near future. I mean, we've already started to see some of those moves. Trump is bringing in his former campaign adviser, Corey Lewandowski. I mean, it is clear that they are concerned about the momentum that Harris has and with good reason. Obviously, she just came off this very successful convention. She's raised $540 million since launching her presidential campaign. That's a heck of a lot of money.

Mara Liasson
Yeah. I think that just based on these two speeches, it's Trump that we should expect something different only because Republicans, including his own campaign, thinks that he squandered the opportunity of that speech, that he didn't take advantage of the moment. Democrats think that Kamala Harris did what she needed to do in that speech. Now she has to build on that and she has to get over the next big hurdle for her, the next big test, which is that debate on September 10.

Franco Ordonez
Yeah, there's still a lot of politics taking to be played.

Deepa Shiverom
We're going to leave it there for today. I'm Diva Shivaram. I cover the White House.

Franco Ordonez
I'm Frank Ordonez. I cover the campaign.

Mara Liasson
And I'm Mara Liasson, senior national political correspondent.

Deepa Shiverom
And thanks for listening to the NPR Politics podcast.

Franco Ordonez
This message comes from NPR sponsor lands End Outfitters. Your brand is important and they create apparel. Your team will want to wear a go to business dot landsin.com pod 20 and use code pod 20 for 20% off your first product.

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